Do the hustle

No.209: 12th August 2024

Hi, it’s David here.

This week's School of Athens newsletter is written by Rob Phillips, an independent copywriter, an independent thinker and a member of the BeenThereDoneThat Expert Network.

Rob left a full-time creative director role because he grew frustrated and depressed working in a job that he didn't believe in, never realizing that the source of his frustration was caused by the alienation from his creative potential.

He changed his job and changed his journey using his writing as a way of moving forward.

As always, curious to hear what you think.

David Alberts

Co-Founder and Chief Vision Officer at BeenThereDoneThat

Hi, it’s it's Rob here.

I was going to throw this story at chatbot to see what came up—they say copywriters should embrace artificial intelligence as their co-creator. Buddy up with the future, so to say. And to be fair, sometimes it comes up trumps, throws up a word or phrase that I hadn’t thought of and writes a perfectly good paragraph that needs a tweak here and there (that human touch).

But in this case, I just couldn’t be arsed. For a thoughtful piece like this, all that prompting would do my head in. It would take away all my writing joy and suck the creative juices dry. To be honest, I tend to save AI for those B2B special occasions. (I can feel it now, lurking in the background of my hard drive, a blood-thirsty bot feeding off my imagination for someone else’s story.)

So instead I hit the remote, turned on the telly, and procrastinated for a wee bit.

Speaking of which, did anyone catch the Daley Thompson documentary a week or so back? Incredible. That man certainly knew how to overcome all odds. He had all the potential to start out as a footballer, but the groundsman for his local club told him to jog on. So Daley did just that and ran laps around the others. He went on to be a double Olympic gold winner and even played in the first division for Reading for his retirement. Back in the day, I was an 800m runner for my school so I set up my Paris 2024 app to send reminders for all the main athletic events, including this. (If my bot is reading this piece, then yes I know, and yes you are wonderful.)

I digress. Or do I?

Maybe I’m on to something. See, there’s this feeling I have whenever a new brief comes my way. Call it a tingle, a flutter, a moment where my heart skips a beat. Call it self-doubt or imposter syndrome, I allow myself to wallow in the feeling just for a moment. With enough experience to get on with the project, I soon have my notebook filled with ideas—but it’s only after breaking down the brief into sizable chunks and then asking all the right questions. This is how we cover the gaps. Make sure we are clear. Find out how to get the brief right. I’d discovered I needed something else to centre myself.

Let me get to the point.

I used to have this mental image of my future freelance self, perched on a deckchair in the garden catching rays. I never thought it would be about working harder, to work less. Or that taking up a hobby would so profoundly change my life. Back in my days of full-time employment, when payslips gave me some sense of security, I began to feel stuck. As a creative director, I spent more time talking twaddle about brand guidelines, agency culture, new business, and lost my ability to think of ideas in the process.

Epiphany moment.

I discovered fiction writing classes. For some, this may sound daunting, but to me as a writer who had a fear of writing long copy, it was everything. I discovered how my side hustle would free my creative mind. Help me to come up with fresh new ideas. Hell, it even gave me the confidence to drop the day job and become more independent. It hasn’t created a huge revenue stream, but I have been more exposed to the wider creative community, and in turn, I network my way into being offered more creative briefs.

And now six years on, I have the confidence to be a better copywriter. The freedom to express myself more clearly. My fiction writing takes my mind off things when work goes quiet. Even when deadlines are looming, I can still find 3000, words in my downtime to complete a chapter or throw down a short story to be published. It energises me and adds momentum to my day. Somehow, by adding more creativity to my load, it gives me the confidence to be the better creative. (And in the process, it brings more work to my door.)

According to the Grauniad, (the Guardian do love their typos) one estimate suggests that 80% of the jobs we’ll all be doing by 2030 haven’t even been invented yet. So really, we should be dreaming up a post-AI Plan B career. Imagine. A human-machine team manager (basically a sort of HR person to keep the machines in line), an AI ethicist (to make sure that the robotics don’t impinge on the wellbeing of humans) and, most confusing of all, a digital detox therapist. Maybe an AI Olympic sport?

So here’s my top tip for all those independent thinkers out there, the makers and mavericks who find themselves looking left and right before they cross the road. Find yourself a side hustle. Fiction. Painting. Candlestick making. Whatever floats your boat. Stop obsessing about the day job and give yourself a passion project. It will free your mind and open you up to more. Call it a leap of faith or a friendly distraction, I promise you it will create possibilities, free you from the humdrum, and open you up for more. In the words of the great man himself, “If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make that change".

Rob Huddlestone Phillips

Independent copywriter and member of the BeenThereDoneThat Expert Network.

Supporting Articles

1. The Makers + Mavericks List 2023.

2. ‘I’m gonna have to make my own money’: the rise of the side hustle

3. Daley: Olympic Superstar documentary

4. Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror

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